


Don't Beat Around The Bush

by Ohshitmyship



Category: BnHA, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Just really teenagers being teens, M/M, Mutual Pining, Some angst, both boys are kind of oblivious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 00:31:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17314703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohshitmyship/pseuds/Ohshitmyship
Summary: Kirishima really liked Bakugou, but Bakugou seems too invested in his studies to be really thinking about relationships, so Kirishima keeps his feelings to himself – or tries to.





	1. Some Feelings are Felt

Kirishima had known for a while that he liked Bakugou. 

He thinks it started just after the sports festival, after Bakugou learned to rely on his teammates more. He didn’t realize it until the summer training, though. When Bakugou was captured, Kirishima felt like his heart had been torn in two. Bakugou was one of his best friends, and Kirishima knew that he was one of the few people that could safely get close to Bakugou. But it felt like a lot more than a friend getting kidnapped – it felt like a lover.

Of course, Kirishima had ignored his thoughts for a while. It would have been so unmanly to worry about that when Bakugou was missing. It wasn’t until after they settled into the dorms that he really started to freak.

He’d never had any luck with crushes before. Girls liked him, and he had had plenty of guy friends, but he had been so plain in middle school, so boring. One of his classmates could create images with beautiful coloured smoke made from his breath, and everyone paid attention to him – no way they’d pay attention to lame little Kirishima. So when Kirishima had a crush, it went unnoticed because he was unnoticed.

But that wasn’t the case anymore.

He and Bakugou hung out all the time, with their friends and alone. He knew Midoriya hadn’t been exaggerating when he said that he had been the only person to build that equal relationship with Bakugou to begin with. Plus, he was in the room right next door.

So yeah, he would probably be noticed.

One day, not long after moving into the dorms, Kirishima and Midoriya were going over hero assignments and Kirishima had a question burning inside of him.

“Hey, Midoriya?” He asked, glancing up.

“What’s up?” Midoriya didn’t lift his head from his work.

“This is kinda random but...did Bakugou ever like, date anyone? Like in middle school or…?”

Midoriya shook his head, still looking at his work, “No. He was popular enough, but he wasn’t really well-liked, most people just followed him because he was strong. I think a couple of girls liked him, but they were too scared to say anything. And he was too driven to be distracted by that stuff anyways.” He finally lifted his head, “Why?”

Kirishima fought back the flush and tried to play casual, “Oh, just wondering. Do you know what he is? Like, gay, bi…?”

“Not a clue,” Midoriya admitted, turning back to his work, “He didn’t show any interest in anybody, but that’s probably because he was a career-driven bully.”

“Aha, right.” Kirishima mentally groaned. He hadn’t really found out anything useful, other than the fact that Bakugou had never cared about romance before. Would he care about it now?

 

Bakugou grinned as he was paired up against Kirishima, who smiled back at him cheerfully.

“Don’t go easy, ‘kay?”

“As if, Shit-hair!”

Their class was doing one-on-one sparring in sand rings about 10 feet in diameter. Knock the person out of the ring, you win. Then you move on to the next circle and fight the victor then, moving on until you had fought everyone.

The whistle blew for them to begin and Kirishima activated his quirk as Bakugou lunged for him.

“Gotta do better than that to break me!” He teased with a grin, swinging forward with a punch.

Bakugou side-stepped and grinned, “That was nothing!”

As they went on, Bakugou noticed Kirishima staying on the defensive, trying to keep himself in the middle of the circle and putting most of his effort into not being forced back. So his leg put behind him would be stronger, but the leg in front of him….

Bakugou thrust his palm right in Kirishima’s face and blinded him, then swiped at Kirishima’s shin, causing him to tumble. Bakugou ran in, moving to grab his arm and fling him out of the circle using explosions as propulsion, but Kirishima grabbed him first and kicked into his stomach, launching him over his body and sending Bakugou sailing. 

He sent off a few explosions behind him, landing just inside the circle. By then, Kirishima was back up and rushing towards him, back on the offence. Bakugou twisted away as Kirishima reached for him and sent an explosion at his back. Kirishima stumbled, but stopped himself from going out of the ring. He quickly turned and ran at Bakugou, grabbing him by the waist and dragging him to the other side of the ring.

“Let go, dammit!” He cried, blasting Kirishima in the face to block his vision, kicking at his chest. But it was no use – Kirishima was on a rampage, and successfully pushed Bakugou out of the ring, making him stumble and fall onto his back.

“I did it!” He said triumphantly, his grin ever present, “I thought you said you wouldn’t go easy on me?” Then he knelt down and extended his hand to Bakugou.

He almost swatted it away out of habit, out of instinct. But he wasn’t so insecure (anymore), and begrudgingly accepted Kirishima’s help.

“That tackle really got me,” he grumbled, “Better than the sports festival.”

“Thanks!” Kirishima replied, rubbing the back of his neck, his cheeks red, presumably from the fight, “And you’re still pretty tough to beat.”

“Next time, you won’t beat me.”

“I guess we’ll have to see!” Kirishima replied, “Welp, time to move on to the next match!” 

Bakugou watched him go, noticing the frayed edges of his gym uniform. How many of those did he go through? As he watched, Kirishima went to Mina. They greeted each other and Mina looked at Bakugou, then Kirishima, then winked at Bakugou. Kirishima started speaking loudly then, but Bakugou couldn’t hear.

_ Whatever,  _ he thought to himself,  _ Just Pinky stirring the pot, or whatever’s in it. _

  
  



	2. Tabernack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bakugou swears a lot in a really weird language

Kirishima was sitting in his room when he heard a sudden explosion from next door. 

He jumped a bit, but quickly calmed down, since Bakugou was next door, and explosions from his room weren’t completely uncommon. Kirishima was about to let it go when he suddenly heard swearing in a language he didn't recognize.

_ “Marde! Criss de marde! Tabarnack! À diable avec tout!” _

This went on from some time, and Kirishima started to become worried. He had heard Bakugou swear in Japanese and even English, but not this weird, nasally language. It was harsh and loud.

Once it died down, Kirishima knocked on their adjoining wall.

“Bakubro?”

“Don’t fucking call me that.”

“Okay sure. You good?”

“Fine. Why?”

“Because I heard you swearing in a weird language? Thought you were possessed or something ahaha.”

There was silence then, and Kirishima wondered if Bakugou sulked off. As he was wondering if he should knock again, he heard his friend’s signature blast and a harsh rapping on the door.

Of course Bakugou had vaulted from his balcony onto Kirishima’s. Why not?

Kirishima went over to the door and opened it, grinning at Bakugou’s scowl.

“What’s up man?”

“Don’t say a word about this,” he hissed, jabbing a finger in Kirishima’s chest, “ _ Especially  _ not to goddamned Sparkles, kay?”

“Yeah, course man,” Kirishima said, wondering what the hell was going on, “Why? Is everything alright?”

“Fine,” Bakugou mumbled, taking a step back, “I just stubbed my toe and spilled my drink on my homework. It was for the makeup exam too, and I really don’t wanna do that shit over.”

“Oh right,” Kirishima said, “But I meant more like, the weird swearing?”

“Tch.” Bakugou turned his head to the side and pouted, the way he always did when he was embarrassed or upset, “It was French.”

“No way! That was French?”

Bakugou scowled at him and turned to leave, “Okay, fuck off, I’m going back to my room.”

“No wait,” Kirishima cried, grabbing Bakugou’s wrist. He stopped, “I didn’t mean to be rude, it just sounded different from what Aoyama usually sounds like. Of course –” Kirishima laughed “– I’ve never heard Aoyama swear like you do.”

Bakugou was still turned away from him, “If I explain, you swear not to tell anyone?”

“I swear, bro.”

Bakugou’s head turned and he met Kirishima’s eyes. He knew that he couldn’t get a more trustworthy person, so he sighed and he turned his body to face his friend.

“It wasn’t Aoyama’s pussy French,” Bakugou said, “It’s Canadian French.”

“I thought Canada was English?” Kirishima asked, confused.

“No, dumbass!” Bakugou spat back, “It was colonized by France and England, so a lot of it is still French.”

“So you’re French Canadian?” Kirishima asked.

“My maternal grandma is,” Bakugou explained, “An old spitfire we always called her. French was her first language, and it was Mom’s too. They taught it to me when I was a kid.”

“So is it your first or second tongue?”

“Second,” Bakugou said, “But I’m fluent – bilingual.”

“So why don’t you ever speak French with Aoyama?” Kirishima asked, “I swear I won’t say anything, just curious.”

Bakugou took his time answering, but Kirishima didn’t mind. Not like he had anywhere else to be, and he always liked when he learned something new about Bakugou. Especially when no one else knew it.

“He’s France French,” Bakugou finally said, “It’s basically a prissier version of Canadian French. But the two are very different, and I doubt he’d understand me if I spoke to him in French. Plus….” Bakugou sighed, “the French are always making fun of how we sound. I don’t need that shit from Sparkles.”

_ Oh. There it is.  _ Kirishima knew that, below the surface, Bakugou was incredibly insecure. He wasn’t close enough to unlock his whole backstory, but he knew Bakugou hid his insecurities behind his pride and brashness. He  _ needed  _ to be the best, because if he wasn’t the best, then what good was he?

And it was times like this that it jumped out. Maybe to most people, it would be silly, a random feeling. So he doesn’t speak French because the only other French speaker wouldn’t understand him and make fun of the accent. No big deal.

But big deal to Bakugou. Anything that made him feel or look bad was just terrible for his mental health. Kirishima was no psychiatrist, but he had had enough practice getting over his own major insecurities to recognize it.

“Then he’s missing out,” Kirishima said at last, playing for casual, “I think it sounded cool.”

“Really?” Bakugou asked, defensive. He was always so defensive.

“Sure!” Kirishima assured with a grin, “It sounded much cooler than my English! What did it mean, anyways?”

Bakugou shrugged, modest, but happy, “Just swearing. They don’t really have perfect Japanese translations, but basically ‘fuck’, ‘christ’, ‘holy shit’, ‘dammit to hell’, that kinda stuff.”

“Wanna teach me?” Kirishima asked, “I think it would be cool to swear in more than one language!”

“Nah, your English is shit as it is,” Bakugou said with a grin, “No use teaching you French. And if I did, wouldn’t it get suspicious?”

“Heh, I guess it would,” Kirishima said, “I don’t think Aoyama would say anything mean, but I swore I wouldn’t say anything, so your secret is safe with me. Wanna hang out for a bit?”

Bakugou shook his head, “Gotta fix my homework, remember?”

“Mind if I come over and play Pokemon in the back?” Kirishima asked, “That way we both have company.”

“Yeah, whatever Kirishima,” Bakugou said, “I’ll open the door for you.”

As Bakugou went back onto the balcony and launched himself over, Kirishima allowed himself a moment.

“Holy shit,” he mumbled to himself, feeling his face heat up terribly, “He’s so cute! French!!! Canadian French!!!” To be honest, he was just really excited that Bakugou had allowed Kirishima to see even deeper beneath his harsh exterior. It made him feel special, and he would always be grateful for that.

There was suddenly a bang on their adjoining wall, followed by a gruff, “Oi, you coming?”

“Be there in a sec!” Kirishima took a quick breath and fanned his face, hoping it would cool off and he wouldn’t blush as much. He grabbed his DS and put his hand on the doorhandle, going out to the hallway.

And as Kirishima sat on Bakugou’s bed, playing the new Pokemon _ ,  _ he kept glancing up at Bakugou as he worked, admiring how peaceful he looked when he did his work. How pretty he was.

Yeah, Kirishima was too far gone, but he would always be glad for Bakugou’s presence, even if it was only friendship.


	3. Old Friends and New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two people from Kirishima's past reappear without warning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no one is reading this but I love writing it

“And that’s when you should use the quadratic formula,” Bakugou finished explaining, pointing at Kirishima’s work, “Make sense?”

“Yeah!” Kirishima said happily, writing the information down, “This is so helpful!”

The two of them were at a café near the school, studying for an upcoming math quiz. The dorms had become too crowded and Bakugou was feeling pent-up inside, so they had been given permission to go to a local outdoor café for a few hours, needing to be home before dinner.

As Bakugou opened his mouth to explain something else, they heard a voice shout, “Hey, Ei!”

Bakugou turned around and saw two boys coming towards them, both pretty plain-looking.

“Who the hell is Ei?” Bakugou wondered.

Kirishima froze up, unsure of what to do. It would be so rude to ignore his old friends, but he didn’t know what he would do if Bakugou found out what he used to be like. He unfortunately found that he had no time to make a decision as the two boys came up to the table and smiled cheerfully.

“Eijirou? Is that you?” One of them asked.

“Talk about a transformation, almost didn’t recognize you!” The second said.

“Haruto, Riku,” Kirishima said with a smile, very aware of Bakugou’s suspicious glare, “I haven’t seen you guys since middle school!”

“Ha, now you’re at fancy U.A,” Riku said with a laugh, “I’ve heard crazy stuff about that! And now that I think about it, I’ve seen you too! At the sports festival!”  
“Yeah,” Haruto agreed, “we thought, ‘ah no way man, that’s not Kirishima! He’s too cool!’ But then we saw when they listed the names that it was you! And didn’t you fight the winner?”

“Yeah. He did,” Bakugou said, finally making himself known.

“You’re him?” Riku said, “No way, you’re the guy on tv who was –”

“The winner!” Kirishima said quickly, knowing his old friend was probably going to say ‘kidnapped’. That was still a sore spot for the both of them, and he and Bakugou had already been kicked out of five restaurants and banned from one for almost starting fights, “Yeah! He was the winner of our section for the sports festival! Bakugou, these are my friends Haruto and Riku from middle school.”

Bakugou looked at them but didn’t say anything, which was probably for the best.

“So what’re you guys up to?” Haruto asked, “I heard that U.A was in dorms now?”

“Yeah,” Kirishima said, “but we wanted to get out for a bit, so we came here to study for a test.”

“Hey you know what I just remembered?” Riku asked with a grin, slinging an arm around Haruto, “Something about Ei here always wanting to go on a café date.”

“Okay!” Kirishima said very loudly, standing up suddenly enough to make the glasses on the table rattle. Everyone on the patio looked at them and Kirishima started to blush, grabbing Riku and dragging the two away.

“Oi, Shitty Hair!” Bakugou yelled, moving to get up to, “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

“Just a sec!” Kirishima yelled back. Thankfully, Bakugou sat back down, staring at them.

Once he was sure that he was far enough away, he turned to his old friends, “Guys!”

“What?” Riku asked innocently, “We interrupting your date?”

“No,” Kirishima said, blushing madly and glancing back at Bakugou, who was still watching them, “I’m not on a date, dammit! We’re just studying.”

“I see,” Haruto said, leaning in, “A study date.”

“No,” Kirishima insisted, “it’s not like that, we’re just friends!”

“Sure,” Riku said before standing taller and waving at Bakugou. Kirishima turned and saw his glare only harden, “Sheesh, that guy kinda scares me. We saw him total you at the festival, and we heard he got kidnapped too! He’s crazy.”

“Yeah, the whole chained up thing makes him look like a wild animal,” Haruto agreed, “So probably a good thing you’re not on a date.”

Kirishima frowned, “Bakugou’s not like that. He’s eccentric and rude, yeah, but he was mad because he felt he didn’t deserve the title. I thought everyone knew that.”

“Nope,” Riku said, “he’s crazy man, I can tell. Why else would he be kidnapped by villains? No one else on that whole trip was targeted, so I’ve heard.”

“Well you heard wrong,” Kirishima said defensively, “He was captured because he’s strong!”

“He was taken because he’s  _ crazy _ ,” Riku said, “Man if I were you, I’d find another tutor.”

“But you’re not me,” Kirishima said hotly, “Bakugou is my friend! So stop being so rude to him!”

“Look, Ei,” Haruto said quietly, “we know you. We can tell you’re into him and as your friends, it’s our job to warn you. It won’t work out with someone like him, even if he is what you say. You’ve done your whole transformation, but you’re still our Ei. You don’t have the flashiest quirk, y’know. You’re cool and strong, but you’ll never match up to people like Todoroki or that crazy raven dude.”

“I’m not Ei anymore,” Kirishima said with a scowl, “And I got into U.A. didn’t I? I placed in the second round of the sports festival, and I interned under Fourth Kind! And I’ll have you know that Bakugou is a better friend than you guys ever were!”

“Hey!” Riku protested, “We were friends for years, and we never treated you like he did! He called your hair shitty, and he beat you up!”

“In a battle competition!” Kirishima yelled, causing some people to look at him, “Bakugou supports me like a real man!”

“Hey.” 

They all turned to see behind Kirishima as Bakugou stood up scowling, his hands in his pockets, and walked over to them.

“Ah, Bakugou!” Kirishima said, realizing he had been heard, “Sorry, I got a little heated.”

“You fucking extras,” Bakugou said as he ignored Kirishima, standing by his side, “Kirishima is already stronger than you losers will ever be. In ten years, you’ll be trying to ask for his stupid autograph because guess what fuckers? Red Riot is already a fucking hero and if a villain came at us right now, he’d be the one saving your sorry asses, not me. So get lost, before I blast you straight to Hell!” As if to accent his point, he pulled a hand out from his pocket and sent off a series of small explosions. Purely intimidation.

The two boys glanced at Kirishima as if to say  _ don’t say we didn’t warn you _ before walking away, grumbling to themselves.

“Tch,” Bakugou said, walking back to the table, “Idiots, interrupting our work.”

“Hey, um, Bakugou,” Kirishima said sheepishly as they went back to the table, “Sorry about that, it’s just–”

“You’re being manly,” Bakugou said plainly as he sat back down again, “defending your friend or what the fuck ever. Those guys were assholes, I don’t fucking get why they can’t accept you’re strong as hell.”

“Oh um,” Kirishima stuttered, trying his damndest to not blush, “thanks Bakugou, but they were the ones being assholes, to be honest. I just don’t think they get that I’m not who I was in middle school.”

“What were you like then?”

There it was. The damning question. He knew this was coming, but he was desperately trying to avoid it. Finally, he took a breath and looked down at the table.

“A coward.”

  
“So was I.”

Kirishima looked up in surprise and saw that Bakugou was completely serious. Of course, when wasn’t he?

“No way, I heard about you fighting that slime villain,” Kirishima said, carefully though, as he knew Bakugou was sensitive about that ordeal, “That was so brave and manly how you fought back so hard!”

“Not that kinda coward,” Bakugou snapped, “I meant I was an asshole to everyone because I was fucking insecure.”

“Oh, well I was just insecure,” Kirishima said with an awkward laugh, “I couldn’t even properly stand up to bullies.”

“Yeah, well, don’t feel too shitty,” Bakugou grumbled, “no one stood up to me either.”

The conversation had gotten a lot heavier than Kirishima wanted it to be, so he smiled wide, “Well hey, neither of us are cowards anymore, since I can stand up to you and you haven’t killed me yet.”

Bakugou stared at him for a moment before scoffing, “Sure, whatever Shitty Hair. Let’s get back to studying so you don’t fucking fail.”

Kirishima laughed and turned back to his work, deciding that the day could have gone a lot worse. At least Bakugou was still his friend; a better friend than he thought he’d ever have.


	4. Rich Kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirishima has a secret of his own

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I LOVE the theory of "kiri is secretly rich" so I made it into this. But HUGE credit to @sabribsarts on twitter because she made a really cute comic about it that realy inspired me. Her art is really cute, check her out!!!  
> https://twitter.com/sabribsarts/status/1044774073975361542
> 
> Also, Kiri's experience is similar to my own because I love projecting
> 
> anyways, happy reading!

Kirishima had a few secrets, but so did everyone else. Just little ones, like some people never broke the habit of nose-picking, or someone has a favourite shirt that is honest-to-God ugly and never wear it except around the house. 

Kirishima had a couple secrets like that. The first one was his old self in middle school. The only person who even kind of knew his past self was Mina, but they had been in different classes and had only known each other in passing and Mina was a real G, so he wasn’t worried about that. Bakugou also knew now, which Kirishima kind of hated, but Bakugou hadn’t stopped hanging out with him and hadn’t mentioned it since their study session, so Kirishima wouldn’t talk about it either.

The other one was his family. He had stressed out about that one a lot.

He was worried that he would become exposed if his friends wanted to come over and hang out, but they had always managed to find a different place. Then they moved into the dorms and didn’t need to hang out at each other’s houses, which was a huge weight off Kirishima’s shoulders.

So Kirishima’s two secrets were safe.

Or so it seemed.

They were heading out to lunch one day, and Mina gasped when she saw the sign outside their cafeteria.

“They’ve upgraded their desserts!” She squealed happily, grabbing Kaminari’s arm and gesturing at the bright sign outside the doors of Lunch Rush. Sure enough, the sign boasted fifteen new desserts available, and every single one of them looked delicious. 

Mina dragged Sato and Kaminari to the dessert area, with Kirishima and a few others following behind. She leaned up close to the glass, grinning, “Aw man they all look so good!”  
“Is that chocolate mousse cake?” Sato pointed out, “Man, I can never get that right.”

“And we have training after this, so stock up on sugar!” Sero suggested. 

Kirishima was kind of just listening to his friends, as he wasn’t a huge fan of sweets. As they were talking, he noticed Uraraka walking by with Iida and Midoriya. He also noticed how she stared longingly at the desserts.

“The desserts look so good!” Midoriya said as they passed by, “I think I might get one, what about you guys?”  
“Maybe a berry tart,” Iida said, “We do have training after. What about you, Uraraka?”

She stared at the desserts before shrugging and turning away, “We’re doing quirk training right after, so I should really be only eating light foods.”

The three walked away and Kirishima frowned, looking at the desserts. He noticed a beautiful japanese strawberry cheesecake and had an idea.

 

“Hey,” Kirishima said when he came into the common room, walking up to Uraraka, “I accidentally bought one too many desserts, and I know you couldn’t eat before training, so I thought I’d save it for you.” 

Kirishima held out the small cardboard box to Uraraka, who stared at him from the couch with wide eyes.

“But you should eat it,” she said, shooting a very quick glance at the box, “You did save it.”

“Strawberry is pretty manly, but it’s not my favourite. Seriously. Take it.”

Uraraka stared at him a moment longer, but he could tell that she was taken by the promise of strawberry sweets. Slowly, she took the box, giving Kirishima a chance to change his mind. She opened it up and gasped quietly.

“Here,” Kirishima said, handing her a fork, “Enjoy!”

Uraraka, now over her internal debate, snatched the fork and took a big bite, eyes closing as she hummed in pleasure.

“Soooooo good. Thanks Kiri, you’re the best!”

“No prob,” Kirishima said with a laugh, going to sit down next to Kaminari and Sero.

“That was nice of you,” Kaminari commented, “To be honest I would’ve just eaten it.”

“Nah, I already had one today, and I knew Uraraka didn’t, so it’s no big deal.

Just then, his phone buzzed. Kirishima took it out and saw that it was a text from Bakugou, who was probably in his room.

_ Come here. I need your help. _

“I’ll be down in a sec,” Kirishima said as he sent back a quick text, “Gotta help Bakugou with something.”

“Bakugou asked you for help?” Jirou asked with a scoff, “I think you’re the only person he can stand to ask.”

“Because I’m nice to him.”

“Oh, so  _ we’re  _ the assholes,” Kaminar laughed. Kirishima made a face at him before going to the elevators. Yaoyorozu followed behind him, probably going up to her floor.

When it came down, the two stepped in. No sooner had the doors closed when Yaoyorozu turned to him.

“I don’t mean to intrude, but I was just curious, what do your parents do for a living?”

Kirishima froze.  _ Shit. _ How had he not thought of this before? Yayorozu’s family might have known his. But wouldn’t she have brought it up before?

_ It’s fine. Just play it cool. _

“Um. Why?”

Yaoyorozu shrugged, “I don’t mean to impede at all, but I’ve noticed that you have a lot of spending money. I mean, not that you flaunt it,” she said quickly, “but you’re always really kind to your friends. You buy everyone lunch, you bought those goggles for when we rescued Bakugou, and the suits you and Bakugou wore at the ball on the island, you bought those right?”  
Kirishima’s eyes widened, “W-who told you?”

“No one,” Yaoyorozu replied with a smile, “But I know Bakugou would never buy something like that for himself, especially since he hadn’t even planned on going. So I was just wondering what your parents did, maybe our families know each other.”

_ Uh oh. Think fast think fast. _

“No, it’s nothing like that,” Kirishima said, “I just, um, I worked a part time job for a long time so I’ve got a bunch of money saved up, plus I grew up in a neighbourhood with a lot of kids so I babysat a lot.”

“Oh, I see,” she said, blushing just a little bit, “I didn’t mean to assume anything, I hope I didn’t offend you at all.”

“Nah,” Kirishima said with a small laugh, “It’s all good, don’t worry about it.”

The elevator dinged and Kirishima stepped out, “Well this is my floor, see you later, Momo!”

Yaoyorozu waved goodbye as the elevator shut and Kirishima heaved a huge sigh.

“Oh my god that was way too damn close.” Realizing he had spoken out loud, he looked in the hallway to make sure no one had heard. Thankfully, no one was around. He breathed a small sigh of relief and made his way to Bakugou’s room, making a mental note to be more careful of his spending habits.

He only needed to knock once before Bakugou’s door flung open, and his friend stood, scowling at him.

“Took you long enough.”

“You texted five minutes ago?”

“Yeah. And it takes like 30 seconds to get up here. Now c’mon, I need you to help me with this rescue bullshit.”

Sometime later, Kirishima had finished helping bakugou, but was still chilling in his room, too lazy to go over to his own. It was comfortable, each boy just kind of doing their own thing in silence.

Then, Kirishima got a text from one of his moms.

_ We have a meeting tonight with some big real estate guys, we may be able to get a plot for our new warehouse for a really good deal. They have a daughter who is coming along, would appreciate it if you could come too. _

Kirishima glanced up at Bakugou, but he was still doing his own thing. So, Kirishima quickly sent his reply and closed the app. Hopefully there would be food.

 

Later that night, Kirishima sat with his mothers at a very fancy restaurant in a nice suit, his hair in a short and slicked ponytail, waiting for the other family to show up. Kirishima was used to this though, as his moms liked to arrive early. He wondered what the kid he was meeting was going to be like. Either they were going to be really nice or really snobbish, there was never any kind of in-between with rich kids. 

He found himself really thankful that his classmates that were rich weren’t snobby. Of course, they were hero candidates, but not all heroes were saints.

As he reached for the grapes that were sat in the middle of the table, he heard his name called.

“Kirishima?”

_ Oh shit. _

He didn’t look up but instead froze, halfway towards the grapes.

“Hey Mom,” he asked quietly, “what family are you meeting with?”

“The Yaoyorozus. Why?”

_ Oh  _ **_shit_ ** **.**

Kirishima looked up and saw his classmate coming towards him with her parents, all wearing nice clothes. He was caught, with absolutely no way out.

“Um. Hey, Momo. What’s up?”

“Oh, you know each other?” Kirishima’s mother asked.

“Yup. She’s in my class.” He shot his moms a look that, to them, was very clear: you done fucked up.

“Oh, I didn’t know your daughter attended U.A.,” Kirishima’s mom said cheerfully, perhaps trying to make up for her fuckup.

“Well we didn’t know you son did either,” Mr. Yaoyorozu said as the family sat down, Momo beside Kirishima.

As the parents began to talk, Kirishima found himself frozen. He couldn’t think of what to do or say, so he just started eating the grapes.

Finally, Momo turned to him.

“Kirishima, why didn’t you just tell me?”

Kirishima tried to swallow and began to choke on a seed in the grape. Everyone at the table looked at him in concern and he took a long drink of water before smiling at everyone.

“Man, careful of the fruit, they’re not as seedless as one would think.”

Thankfully, the adults chuckled a little before turning back to their conversation.

“I asked you earlier today,” Momo said quietly, looking down at her napkin.

“I didn’t think our families would ever meet,” Kirishima admitted, “I’m sorry, it’s not manly to lie. I just...I don’t like people knowing I’m rich.”

Momo looked up at him with a sad expression, and he suddenly remembered how open she was about her money.

“Not that that’s a bad thing!” He said quickly, “At all! I just, geez, how do I explain it? Um...did you go to like, a fancier school before U.A.?”

Momo nodded, “I did, yes. A prep school of sorts.”

“Yeah, I didn’t,” Kirishima explained, “I just wanted to be more like regular kids I guess, so I went to a regular middle school. Because of where I lived, the school was kind of right in between the really rich neighbourhood and the middle-class neighbourhood. I didn’t like, flaunt it, but I didn’t really hide it. Because of that I got a few fake friends, who I’m pretty sure only hung out with me because I had a fancy theatre room.” 

“I understand,” Momo said slowly, “but do you really think our classmates are so shallow?”

“No, not at all!” Kirishima said, “I just...I just kinda want my friends to be friends with me, not like, rich fancy snobby me. It’s just kinda hard to explain, like you, Iida, Todoroki, even Bakugou, you’re all really comfortable with your money – which is great! But….” Kirishima sighed, “our money is pretty new, like my mom came from nothing and started this all. So I guess I’m just not as used to it as you guys, and my friends from middle school didn’t help with that.”

“I see,” Momo said, smiling, “It’s alright. I appreciate where you’re coming from, and I can understand what that’s like. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it too. But do you really want to keep it a secret?”  
“Yes,” Kirishima said quickly, “I’ve kept it for this long, I’d like to keep my wealth secret. Besides,” Kirishima said with a small laugh, “if they knew how much money I spent on stupid stuff like special edition crocs, I don’t think I’d have any friends left!”  
Momo giggled a little bit and nodded, “Alright, I promise I won’t tell anyone. Except….”

Kirishima felt his body go cold, “Except who?”  
Momo whipped out her phone and opened her Snapchat, showing a group chat that was titled “Rich Bitches”.

“Momo,what are you doing?”  
As he watched in horror, Momo typed out a message, simply saying “ _We have found another.”_ and then sending it.

“Who’s in that chat?” Kirishima demanded.

“Just Iida and Todoroki,” Momo said cheerfully.

“So...Bakugou’s not in it?” Kirishima asked carefully.

Momo shook her head, “We kept trying to add him but he kept leaving the group, so we’ve stopped trying. So he’s an honorary member.”

Kirishima sighed in relief.

“So can I add you?” Momo asked.

Kirishima nodded, “I don’t mind if it’s just other rich kids.”

Momo laughed and leaned over, holding her phone up to take a selfie. Kirishima smiled at the camera as she took the picture, leaning over as he watched her send the pic to the chat before adding him.

“There!” She said cheerfully, “Now you can see all our secret rich kids memes.”

Kirishima’s jaw dropped, “You guys  _ meme?! _ ”

  
  



End file.
